


No Place I Would Rather Be

by cafe_au_late



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Byleth loves puns, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Found Family, Minor relationships in the background, Modern AU, Tooth Rotting Fluff, is this how I'm dealing with this quarantine? yes, quarantine fic, so many silly little tropes, the black eagle are a bunch of dorks and they're family, two soft idiots IN LOVE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24187615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafe_au_late/pseuds/cafe_au_late
Summary: A series of little scenes of Edelgard and Byleth quarantining at home together and reminding each other that their home is not a place but a heart, another person, and there's no place they would rather be.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 10
Kudos: 180





	No Place I Would Rather Be

**Author's Note:**

> This idea hit me last night and I spent all night working on it because I couldn't get these two soft dorks out of my head. I really pulled deep for some of these scenes because these two dorks mean that much to me and this is honestly the fluffiest, sweetest thing I have ever written and probably ever will write. But I think we all need a little fluff for these trying times. 
> 
> Also I really wanted to try my hand at writing in present tense? All my other stuff is in past tense so I just wanted to give it a go- actually really fun once I remembered to stay in one tense.
> 
> Please stay safe out there and thank you for reading :)
> 
> (If you wanna yell at me about these two idiots, I'm on twitter at bardigrade)

* * *

“By? Did you buy out the entire grocery store?” Edelgard calls out when she sees the haul that her girlfriend has lugged into their shared apartment. There are nearly a dozen different reusable shopping bags in the entranceway. She wonders how Byleth managed to get all of the bags up in one trip- her girlfriend is buff, but even that seems like a stretch. The stay-at-home quarantine order has taken effect and since Byleth finishes work earlier than Edelgard, she has taken it upon herself to do the grocery shopping.

“Was that a pun?” Byleth pokes her head out into the hallway, she’s grinning, wild teal hair tamed into a low ponytail.

Edelgard rolls her eyes fondly at her, “You make this joke every time.”

“But you love it!” 

“No, I love you. There’s a difference.” 

“Aww El, I love you too.” 

Edelgard’s heart flutters in her chest. They’ve said those three little words to each other countless times now, but she can never tire of hearing Byleth say those three words to her. 

“Remember the first time that I said ‘I love you’ to you?” Byleth walks up to her and carefully folds her arms around Edelgard’s waist, pulling her close, so that her back presses against Byleth’s _generous_ chest. 

Edelgard blushes. Byleth’s voice is low and raspy in her ear. 

“How could I forget? We were just friends. I didn’t even know how you felt about me. You were on a ‘I have to normalize telling all my friends that I love them’ phase- which in hindsight, is very cute but you could’ve saved me a lot of grief by leading with that fact.” she leans back into Byleth’s touch, relishing in the contact between them.

“You nearly choked on your tea when I said it to you.”

Edelgard can feel Byleth’s smile against the outer shell of her ear.

“And I feel like that should have been a big clue as to whether or not I had a crush on you.”

“You had a crush on me? You nerd!” 

“We are dating! We have been dating for three years!” Edelgard twists in Byleth’s grasp so that she can face her girlfriend.

Byleth is smiling down at her, clearly having fun at her expense. Edelgard scowls at her and moves to go pick up some of the groceries to begin putting them away. Instead, Byleth’s grip tightens around her waist and she tilts her head forward to capture Edelgard’s lips in a searing kiss.

Every time they kiss, it’s like diving into water on a hot summer day. It’s refreshing and the sensations wash over Edelgard’s entire body, enveloping her in their wake. Something about it gives Edelgard such strength while making her weak in the knees- she feels invincible in that moment and there’s no place that she would rather be than in Byleth’s arms.

By the time they break away from each other, they are both panting and a faint layer of pink dusts Byleth’s cheeks. She bites her bottom lip as she gazes down at Edelgard with half-lidded eyes. Edelgard can’t help herself as she stretches up across Byleth’s body on tippy-toes to give her one more kiss.

Byleth groans audibly, making Edelgard smirk as she pulls away. 

“We have to put the groceries away.” She successfully breaks away from Byleth’s grasp and heads to the entrance way.

“But El,” Byleth whines. Now it's her turn to pout and Edelgard has to force herself to look away, lest she get sucked into those big blue eyes and then they’d never get anything done.

“No buts,” Edelgard chastises as she leans over to pick up a few of the bags. They are much heavier than she thinks they have any right being. How in the name of the goddess did Byleth get all of these up here?

“Not even your butt?” Byleth jokes, as she squeezes past Edelgard in the entranceway.

“Okay, maybe two butts. Because I do really like yours. But later!”

“Was that a pun!?”

* * *

Edelgard hears a loud crash from the living room, it's enough to make her pause in folding their laundry. “By?” She sets Byleth’s t-shirt down in the drawer. 

“I’m okay!” Byleth responds.

Nonetheless, Edelgard makes her way to the living room, curiosity piqued. She finds her girlfriend surrounded by a dozen text books, several balanced precariously on her back. She’s clad in nothing but a pair of gym shorts and a sports bra, trying to do push ups.

“By, what in the name of the goddess are you doing?” Edelgard laughs at the sight. 

Byleth’s face is furrowed in concentration as she struggles to put another book on her back. “Working out.” She grunts. 

Edelgard’s throat goes dry at the sight of Byleth’s muscles flexing as she moves. The books fall off her back again. Byleth sighs and sits up instead. 

“I never thought that I would miss the gym,” she mumbles, dejected. She looks up at Edelgard, sizing her up in a calculated manner. Slyly, she crooks a finger at Edelgard, beckoning her forward.

Edelgard knows her ears are red but she strides forward anyway, full of unfounded confidence. Her knees give ever so slightly but she continues forward until she’s standing before Byleth. She doesn’t know what Byleth wants.

Byleth suddenly drops back into a push up position again. “Get on my back, El.” 

“What?”

“Just get on my back.”

Edelgard complies, although hesitantly. She nearly shrieks as Byleth begins moving once her full weight has settled on Byleth. Is she? Byleth was definitely doing push ups with Edelgard on her back. Edelgard turns even more red. Her pulse races, her entire body suddenly feels unbearably warm.

“B-By?” She rasps out.

Byleth pauses, she twists her head so that she can look up at Edelgard. “Yeah, El?”

“Isn’t this too heavy?”

“This is just the weight of my love for you,” Byleth grunts as she does another pushup. 

The warmth in Edelgard’s chest flares into a raging inferno. Spurred on by her earlier unfounded confidence, she lifts herself off of Byleth and in one smooth motion, has Byleth pinned on her back. “I’m thinking we could do a different sort of exercise? Together? Somewhere more comfortable?” 

It’s Byleth’s turn to turn red as Edelgard leans down to kiss her, fitting their hips together as Edelgard lays flush against her. 

“Bed?” Byleth groans as her hands run up Edelgard’s side, teasing- setting every nerve aflame with her touch.

Edelgard smiles as she presses another kiss to Byleth’s lips, “No place I would rather be.”

* * *

Edelgard groans and rubs her temples. After her third online conference of the day, she is ready to call it quits. Honestly, part of her wants to just tell Hubert that she’s going to be considering this as a vacation and not to bother her but she knows that not doing anything would stress her out just as much. She has spent the better half of the conferences teaching some of her older board members how to work the conference call program and the other half listening to them drone on about numbers and new measures and wage packets now that the world has been locked down.

“That bad?” Byleth sets a steaming cup of tea on her desk and begins rubbing her shoulders.

The two of them have spent the majority of the day working separately in the apartment. Byleth still has undergrad classes to teach and papers to grade but was comfortable sitting at the kitchen table while Edelgard took their home office. Usually, the two of them would work on things together at the two desks in the office, but having to speak out loud makes things difficult.

“It’ll just take some getting used to,” Edelgard replies. She closes her eyes and nearly moans out loud at the feeling of Byleth firmly working out one of the knots in her shoulder. A terrible thought crosses her mind and she hesitantly cracks an eye open and looks at her laptop screen. She lets out a breath of relief, her camera is off, she in fact, did hang up on the call.

“Do you want to have dinner now?” Byleth works over another knot closer to her spine.

“Yes, please. I wish I could have you at work with me all the time.” Edelgard sighs as she takes a sip of her tea. Bergamot. Her favourite. Byleth always makes it exactly how she likes it.

She catches Byleth’s smirk in the faint reflection of her laptop screen. 

“You wouldn’t get much work done.”

“That’s true.” Edelgard admits. “It’s a nice thought though.”

“It is.” Byleth agrees, “And as not feasible as that thought is, you know that there’s no place I would rather be than together with you So let’s enjoy that thought now, for as long as this stay-at-home thing lasts.”

“That’s one of the things I love about you. You always see that silver lining.” 

Byleth hums in agreement.

* * *

Byleth winces as she dries her hands on the hand towel in the kitchen- something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Edelgard.

“Are you hurt?” Edelgard asks, walking around the kitchen counter to Byleth’s side. She carefully takes Byleth’s hands in hers.

“No. Well, kind of.” Byleth frowns at her hands. “My hands are all dry and cracked because of all the extra hand washing I’ve been doing.”

Edelgard runs her fingers gently across her girlfriend’s calloused hands, avoiding the areas that looked particularly red and dry. “I’ve got some lotion for that.” She gently sits Byleth on the couch before disappearing into their bedroom. Moments later, she reappears with a bottle of hand lotion.

Gingerly, she puts a dollop of lotion on one of Byleth’s palms and gently works the lotion into Byleth’s skin, rubbing away some of the tension there. “I’m going to leave the lotion here okay, and you can just reapply it whenever you want.” 

Byleth smiles and leans over to kiss Edelgard’s temple, “Thanks, El.”

They return to their individual activities for the rest of the day without much issue. It isn’t until later in the afternoon, when they’re having lunch together that Edelgard notices.

“By? Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?” 

“I don’t know. Rubbing your nose?”

Byleth grins sheepishly, like a child with their hand in the cookie jar. “The lotion you put on my hands reminds me of you. So I can’t help but sniff it.”

Edelgard lets out a breath of laughter. “I’ll order you some scentless lotion.”

“No!” Byleth reaches across the table to grab Edelgard’s hand. “I like it. It’s like always having you there with me, by my side.”

“Well, lucky for you-” Edelgard leans over and wipes away a splash of sauce from the corner of Byleth’s mouth with her thumb, “There’s no place I would rather be.”  
  


* * *

“El?” Byleth calls out from the bathroom.

“Yeah?” 

“Do you want to take a bubble bath?” 

Edelgard looks up from washing the dishes in surprise. That’s an idea that has never really occurred to her. She has never had a bubble bath before. Her childhood did not really provide ample occasion for such things.

“Sure? But I thought you were going to take a bath right now?” She sets her bright red mug with the Black Eagles club logo on it upside down in the dish rack.

Byleth peers out at her from the bed room, she’s stripped down to her underwear “Sorry, I meant, do you want to take a bubble bath with me?”

Edelgard feels her throat go dry at the sight of Byleth’s slightly sweaty skin and very toned figure. “Y-yes,” she manages to get out.

Byleth grins at her, “Okay, I’ll go ready the bath. If you look in the fridge, I’ve hidden a surprise in the back, behind the first two jars of pickled daikon.” She darts back into the bathroom before Edelgard can say anything else. 

It takes Edelgard a moment for her to come to her senses. Stiffly, she opens the fridge- which is absolutely packed with various groceries. True to her word, Edelgard moves two jars of pickled daikon that Byleth has made and finds a large red heart-shaped box. A several more jars line the back of the fridge. How in the name of the goddess did she miss that? Maybe that’s why Byleth has been so jumpy whenever Edelgard has been at the fridge.

She recognizes the label on the ribbon of the box. Martritz Chocolatiers. Her favourite chocolate shop. When did Byleth buy this?

“Bath is ready, El!” 

Edelgard nearly trips over herself in her haste to get to the bathroom. 

Byleth is nowhere to be seen when she gets to the bathroom. The bathroom is fairly large- but not so large that Byleth could hide anywhere. Edelgard nearly drops the chocolates in surprise when Byleth’s head pops out of the heaps of bubbles in the bath.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack, By!” she swats at Byleth halfheartedly. Her girlfriend has a pile of bubbles on top of her head, making it look like she’s wearing a witch’s hat. A very bubbly witch’s hat.

“The water is lovely, but I think it would get even more lovely if you got in it,” Byleth smiles at her with such gentleness and Edelgard can feel her heart swell in affection.

“Flatterer,” Edelgard hands Byleth the box of chocolates to hold as she strips down.

“Flatterer? I barely know her!” 

“Oh my god, By. You are ruining the mood.” Edelgard laughs as she finally steps into the water. The water feels amazing against her skin. It’s just warm enough, and the bubbles fizzle lightly as well. Edelgard giggles at the novel sensation. The scent of lavender and bergamot fills her nose- Byleth has added essential oils to the bath as well.

“It’s okay. Now that you’re in here, the mood is all good again.” Byleth tugs her hand gently, guiding her so that her back is nestled comfortably against Byleth’s chest. 

“Not that I’m complaining,” Edelgard leans her head back so that her ear is pressed against Byleth’s heart, she could never tire of listening to her girlfriend’s heartbeat. “But you do realize that the bathtub here is much larger than the one in your old apartment so we don’t have to sit like this.” 

Byleth kisses the top of her hair gently. A few drops of water drips down onto Edelgard. At first, Edelgard thinks it's from Byleth’s wet hair, but she hears a sniffle and looks up in surprise.

Sure enough, there’s a few tears streaming down Byleth’s face.

“By?” She asks softly. She takes the box of chocolates from Byleth’s other hand and puts them to the side. Carefully, so that she doesn’t slosh any water over the side of the bathtub, she turns to face Byleth. Never having let go of Byleth’s other hand, she uses her free hand to cup Byleth’s face gently. Byleth nuzzles deeper into her touch, seeking comfort from the gesture. “Is everything okay?”

It takes Byleth a moment to answer. “Yeah,” she finally says between sniffles.

“Then why are you crying?” Edelgard gently wipes away some of the tears with her thumb.

“I don’t know? I just thought about how far we’ve come and how much I love you and the faucets just turned on,” Byleth gestures at her face, trying her hardest to stop the tears.

“Oh, By.” Edelgard whispers. Her heart feels like it could explode with all the love and affection she had for the wondrous human being before her. Never in her life could she imagine that she would find someone as beautiful, brilliant, caring, and amazing as Byleth and that Byleth would think the same of her. More importantly, that Byleth would work with her to make their busy lives and schedules and weird quirks and habits fit together and work. 

She leans up and peppers her girlfriend’s face with many kisses, trying to kiss away as many of the tears as she can. They laugh when the bubble hat no top of Byleth’s head finally loses shape and a large dollop of it lands on Edelgard’s head.

“Okay, I’m done crying now. There’s enough water in this bath already. I don’t need to add more.” Byleth gives one last sniffle and leans down and kisses Edelgard so sweetly that it takes her breath away.

“I know that this whole stay-at-home thing is not ideal, but I’m glad we get to do stuff like this. I’ve never had a bubble bath before.”

Byleth smiles knowingly at her. “I know. 

“I’m glad that we get to experience these things together. And you will always be my home, Byleth, but I’m also glad that we have this place of our own.”

“You are also my home, El, and there’s no place I would rather be.”

“I love you so much, you know that right?” 

Byleth kisses her again. “You’re saying that because I bought your favourite chocolates before the place closed for the quarantine.”

“You got my favourites?” Edelgard gasps. Martritz Chocolatiers were always out of her favourite kind of chocolates because they were so popular (as they should be- they were that good!). 

Byleth nods seriously, “I called Mercedes as soon as they opened and had her secretly set aside a box for me.”

“I love you so much that I’ll share this box of chocolates with you.” 

Byleth leans down to kiss her again. “You weren’t going to share with me before?”

“Maaaaaybe.” 

“I’m never calling in favours for you with Mercedes again.” 

Edelgard unwraps the box deftly with one hand- with such ease that Byleth raises an eyebrow at her. “Someone’s had practice,” Byleth teases.

“Shut up,” Edelgard flushes. Byleth knows as well as she does that she has a bit of a sweet tooth and these chocolates are delicious. Soon enough, Edelgard had her prize in hand: a chocolate that looked like a little fish.

“Why do you like them so much?” Byleth asks as Edelgard bites the tail off of the treat.

Edelgard only turns more red in response. 

“El?”

“I-didn’t-at-first-but-then-I-found-out-that-you-like-fish-and-whenever-I-saw-these-it-reminded-me-of-you-so-then-they-became-my-favourite!” She buries her face in the crook of Byleth’s neck in embarrassment.

“The fish shape reminded you of me and that’s why they’re your favourite?”

Edelgard nods slowly, mortified. Byleth could make her spill secrets that she never would admit to anyone else and often would use this to her advantage.

“That’s so cute, El!” Byleth laughs. 

Edelgard scowls at the offending word and pops the remainder of the chocolate into her mouth with a huff.

Byleth smiles again, blindingly bright and leans down for another kiss. It's open-mouthed and hungry and Edelgard couldn’t tell if it was the heat of the bath getting to her or if it really was getting hotter. By the time that Edelgard breaks the kiss, her lungs are burning and Byleth is looking at her with a satisfied look on her face, chewing smugly .

Byleth has stolen her chocolate.

* * *

“El! Say hi!” Byleth is sitting on the couch, laptop on the coffee table.

Edelgard looks up from her canvas that she’s set up in the corner of the living room, mid-painting. Byleth is on a conference call with a lot of familiar faces so Edelgard puts her paintbrush into the cup of water and wanders over.

“Hey guys,” she waves as she settles in next to Byleth on the couch. Byleth immediately throws an arm around Edelgard’s waist and draws her close so that their sides are touching. 

“Edie!” Dorothea beams at her curled up similarly around Petra.

“Edelgard! Please tell Caspar that you should pour the milk in after the cereal, not before!” Half of Ferdinand’s face takes up nearly half of his frame- the other half is cut off. Hubert gently pulls the other man back a bit so his presence isn’t so overbearingly distorted. The two of them are sitting at what looks like their kitchen counter.

“Please forgive him, we decided to open the bottle of wine that you gave us for Christmas and Ferdinand decided that he wanted to finish the whole thing instead of saving some for later.” Hubert sighs as the man with a face red enough to match his hair leans against his neck. There’s some faint whispering and suddenly, Hubert also matches Ferdinand’s hair.

“If you put the cereal in after, it doesn’t get soggy as easily!” Caspar’s voice is jarring, bordering on blowing out the speakers on Byleth’s laptop. He’s also on a weird space background, making it look like he and Linhardt are spiralling through the galaxy. Linhardt is quite clearly asleep on Caspar’s lap.

“C-caspar! Not so loud! Some of us want to keep our hearing!” Bernadetta squeaks.

“The obvious answer is that you should eat one bite of cereal by itself and then take a sip of milk. That way, you get the best of both worlds.” Edelgard deadpans.

The chat falls silent.

Dorothea is the first to speak up, “Okay, Hannah Montana.”

The rest of the chat breaks out into raucous laughter after that.

There’s more laughter as Ferdinand presses something in his drunken state and turns both his and Hubert’s faces into slices of bread. Hubert is scrambling to get rid of the filter before anyone can screenshot it but Edelgard knows that there will be at least five images in their group chat of this before the night ends and Hubert will never hear the end of this.

A warmth blooms in Edelgard’s chest as she regards these people and their sometimes fuzzy images on the screen. They are all scattered across the city but it doesn’t feel like they are ever far away. These are her friends. She thinks about what they mean to her, what they mean to Byleth- the things that they have experienced together in college. 

Byleth is her home- but this is her family, and there is no place that she would rather be.

* * *

  
  
“By?” It's after breakfast sometime now- time is meaningless on their self-imposed days off where they don’t do anything related to work. But Byleth has mysteriously disappeared. They have joked before about the size of the apartment- there are perks to being the CEO of Adrestia Corporations. But it’s strange to think that Byleth could effectively hide in the space.

Edelgard finds her girlfriend in the corner of the balcony, tending to the various plants. “By? Are you hiding?”

Byleth looks sufficiently ashamed of herself, crouched in the corner behind the rack that they hung clothes on. “Not on purpose!”

“Why didn’t you respond when I called your name?” Edelgard is certain that Byleth would’ve heard her from here. The sliding door has been left open but the screen closed.

Byleth looks down at the plants like they could give her the answer. “I’m sorry.”

Edelgard crouches down so that she’s at eye level with Byleth. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, I promise. I just need some space just to be on my own. It’s not that I hate being around you all the time, it’s just- I’m not used to being stuck at home all the time and I think I’m just overwhelmed.” She’s fidgeting with the watering can now.

Edelgard smiles warmly at her, “Of course. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need space. Next time you feel like you need space, just let me know. I understand. I’ll be working on my painting in the living room.” She gets up and begins to head back into the apartment.

“El?”

She pauses in the doorway. “Yeah, By?”

“Can I have a kiss before you go?”

Who could resist her when she asked like that? Happily, Edelgard obliges, giving Byleth a tender kiss. “Tell Poke I say hi, okay?”

Byleth looks down at the ball cactus sitting in front of her. “El, says hi, Poke.”

An hour later, Byleth returns to the living room and promptly curls into Edelgard’s side.

“You’re looking a little sunburnt, By.” Edelgard runs the gentlest of touches across her girlfriend’s pink-tinged skin.

“Mhmm. It was really nice out on the balcony. But there’s no place I would rather be than next to you.” Byleth mumbles into Edelgard’s lap.

* * *

Byleth is currently on a baking binge. One day, Edelgard leaves their home office after another one of her business calls to find that Byleth is suddenly making a sourdough starter. They have a loaf of sourdough along with some chili for dinner.

The next few days are measured by this starter and the perfect loaf of bread that Byleth is trying to bake for Edelgard: when it’s time to feed the starter, when it’s time for the dough to be done rising, when it’s time for the dough to bake.

It’s really no surprise when Byleth finds herself miscalculating the time needed for her latest loaf of bread. Edelgard grumbles when Byleth pokes her in her sleep. She rolls over, away from the offending finger, taking most of the blankets with her.

“El!” Byleth whispers.

Edelgard groggily opens her eyes and rolls back over to face Byleth. “By? What are you doing? It’s-” she turns to look at the clock on the nightstand, “-three in the morning. Why are you awake?”

“I had to finish my bread.”

Edelgard stares blankly at Byleth, not sure she heard correctly. 

Byleth lifts a perfectly round loaf of bread up to Edelgard’s face. The loaf of bread balances precariously on the various calluses on Byleth’s hands- still too hot to be holding it with her bare hands but it's clear that Byleth is too impatient to let it cool.

“Let’s eat it, El!”

“It’s three in the morning, By.” Edelgard repeats.

“It’s the perfect loaf! I did everything correctly! I wanted you to taste it while it’s still hot. It’s going to be the best bread you’ve ever had.” The look on Byleth’s face disintegrates whatever is left of Edelgard’s resistance.

“Alright.”

Byleth perks up immediately.

“But! We are not eating in bed. There’s going to be crumbs _everywhere_ and I cannot live like that.”

Byleth relents and the two of them scoop up a bunch of their blankets and head back out to the living room. Byleth sets the loaf of bread reverently on some napkins on the coffee table. She looks around the living room and Edelgard could tell that she was having another one of her big brain ideas.

“Let’s make a pillow fort, El!”

“A pillow fort?”

“Yeah!” Byleth was already removing couch cushions and piling them on the floor.

“I’ve never made a pillow fort before,” Edelgard admits. “I’ve seen them on television and in movies as a child. But I've never actually done something like that.”

Byleth hums thoughtfully, “You should make a list of things like that and we’ll do all of them.” 

Edelgard likes the confidence in Byleth’s voice. The fact that she says that they’ll do all of them and not _try_ to do all of them. A promise of sorts. Together, they quickly assemble a cozy little fort, the flat sheet from the bed acting as the top of the fort. It’s cozy, Edelgard thinks as she curls up next to Byleth. They each have a fresh cup of chamomile tea- caffeine free because Edelgard would like some semblance of proper sleep after all of this. The bread is still hot as Byleth tears off little chunks and begins feeding it to Edelgard.

They take turns feeding each other pieces of the fresh bread until all that’s left are crumbs, two empty teacups, and two very satisfied stomachs. Edelgard leans back into Byleth’s chest, eyes heavy with sleep again. Byleth’s heartbeat thuds gently against Edelgard’s face. She turns slightly to plant a soft kiss over where Byleth’s heart is.

Byleth chuckles at the action. She gently cards her fingers through Edelgard’s hair, smoothing out any tangles. “You really like the sound of my heart, don't you?”

“It sounds like home,” Edelgard mumbles, “and there’s no place I would rather be.”

* * *

Edelgard doesn’t get nightmares much anymore. But just because there was a world crisis and the world is on hold at the moment, it doesn’t mean that her nightmares gives her the courtesy of following the current state of the world. 

_She can see Byleth, covered in blood, wounded heavily, a jagged bone-like sword in one hand. She knows instinctively that some of the blood on the sword is hers. She knows that she’s bleeding from a deep gash across her midsection. She knows that Byleth is the one who made that gash across her midsection but the pain of the gash is nothing compared to the pain that she feels in her chest- in her heart._

_Her heart is tearing itself into two. So much regret weighs down on her, memories that Edelgard knows intimately- an entire bygone life. A life where Byleth doesn’t choose her. Edelgard knows that life and it terrifies her. The Byleth that stands before her is not her Byleth. There’s still a warmth to this Byleth, a hint of familiarity, like the Byleth that Edelgard knows and loves is underneath all the sadness and pain. Edelgard wants nothing more than to make all her pain and suffering go away- there’s only one ending to all this._

_Byleth raises her sword to strike her down. Edelgard knows how the sword will rend her asunder. She welcomes it. She is so, so tired of fighting. Perhaps Byleth will be free after this._

_“I wish I could’ve walked with you.”_

“El? El!” 

Edelgard sits up with a gasp. Her pajamas are sticky with sweat and she can feel her hair cling to her face. Her heart is racing, and she looks around the room, wide-eyed. A very concerned Byleth is at her side, gently rubbing circles on her back while she brushes Edelgard’s hair back.

“By?” it comes out more like a whimper.

Byleth pulls Edelgard into her lap and holds her close, propping Edelgard up in such a manner so that Edelgard could hear her heartbeat. She continues rubbing circles and stroking her hair. “It’s just a nightmare, El. You’re okay. You’re safe now. I’m right here.” 

Edelgard focuses on the sound of Byleth’s heart and the sound of her voice, letting it wash over her, letting it wash away any traces of the nightmare. She uses Byleth’s heartbeat as an anchor, reminding herself that this was real and that was just a nightmare. Byleth repeats herself like a mantra, until Edelgard stops shaking and her breathing evens out.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Byleth asks softly, she presses a tender kiss to the top of Edelgard’s head.

Edelgard is silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts, her words, her courage. “I dreamed that we were on opposite sides of a war. That you weren’t with me. You defeated me. You were there before me to kill me.”

She feels Byleth suck in a sharp breath, air whistling piercingly through her lips. “That’s just a nightmare, El. I’m here now. You can feel me here and now. We’re both alive. I’m right here, with you, by your side, and there’s no place I would rather be.”

* * *

It's endearing, Edelgard thinks, as she watches Byleth teach her class from the kitchen table. Byleth usually wears headphones for this, but they’re unfortunately very dead because she forgot to recharge them after the last time she used them, so now Edelgard can hear every word her class is saying.

She heads back to the kitchen to empty out the cup that she’s been using to wash her brushes in and get new water. To do so, she has to cross into Byleth’s camera’s frame twice. Once to go to the kitchen, and once more back to the living room. She doesn’t think much of it as she rinses out the cup.

“Was that your wife in the background, Professor Eisner?”

“My wife?” Byleth looks confused for a moment, looking around the apartment. She spots Edelgard at the sink and Edelgard can see her face turn pink. “ _My wife_?” she repeats to herself with a sense of wonderment, putting the stress on both words in a way that made the corner of Edelgard’s mouth quirk upwards.

They stare at each other a moment longer, until Edelgard tilts her head at Byleth curiously. Hastily, Byleth turns back to her laptop. “No, that’s my girlfriend. That’s not my wife.” she mumbles something under her breath that Edelgard can’t quite pick up. “Hey! That’s off topic. Back to the problem at hand now.”

Edelgard grins at her girlfriend's antics. Everyone knew that she was just a big softie. She settled back in, in front of her easel and let herself get lost in the flow of painting. She doesn’t realize how much time has passed until Byleth is gently rubbing her shoulders.

“By?”

“It’s dinner time, let’s eat.” 

“Already?” Edelgard looks up in surprise. It’s already dark out. “I didn’t realize.”

“You were so focused, I didn’t want to disturb you.” Byleth leans down and kisses her temple. “What are you painting?” Byleth tilts her head to the side, trying to figure out what was on the canvas.

Edelgard pushes Byleth playfully. “It’s a surprise for later. Do I smell onion gratin soup?” She gets up from her seat, groaning as her joints express their displeasure at sitting in one position for so long with a series of pops and cracks.

“You do!” Byleth brightens and takes Edelgard’s hand. She holds it all the way to the sink where she waits for Edelgard to finish scrubbing her hands. Edelgard waits for Byleth to finish washing her hands as well before lacing their fingers together and heading to the kitchen table.

Byleth has laid out their fancy place settings that they only use when they’re hosting dinner parties. They don’t own any of the classic tall candles that you see in movies, but a few scented candles dot the table instead. In addition to the onion gratin soup, there’s another perfectly round loaf of freshly baked bread.

“What’s the occasion?” Edelgard asks, she digs in eagerly. Byleth’s cooking has always been divine, but it feels like this meal is even more delicious than usual.

Byleth looks at her with such fondness that it makes Edelgard’s heart melt. “Just that I love you.”

“You cheeseball,” Edelgard swats lightly at her arm, blushing something fierce.

“ _Your_ cheeseball.” 

Dinner passes uneventfully, the conversation is light, the food delicious. Eventually their bowls are emptied, and refilled, and emptied again, the loaf of bread is utterly decimated. Byleth saves the leftover chunks to make croutons out of. As Edelgard gets up to start doing the dishes, Byleth pulls her back down into her seat.

“No, no, why don’t you head to the couch? We aren’t finished yet. I’ll be there with you in a second.” Byleth smiles at her, a twinkle in her eye. 

“You better!” Edelgard says.

“Don’t worry. There’s no place I would rather be right now.”

Reluctantly, Edelgard lets Byleth carry her empty bowl away. She doesn’t like it when Byleth cooks and does the dishes. This was an equal partnership, and she always felt the need to contribute something, even if it was just washing the dishes. She settles into the couch, directly in the middle where the two couch cushions meet so that she sinks down even further, making her look a lot smaller than she really was.

“Here we are,” Byleth returns with a small bowl, filled to the brim with Edelgard’s favourite peach sorbet. She cuddles into Edelgard’s side.

“My favourite- you’re really spoiling me now. What’s going on?” Despite her questions, Edelgard accepts the treat and digs in eagerly. She was never one to turn down sweets, never mind her favourite.

“Nothing,” Byleth grins. She brings over the candles from the dining table and sets them on the coffee table. The lights are all off, letting the candlelight cast dancing lights across their forms.

Edelgard knows she was up to something. Byleth wraps an arm around her shoulder and gives her a sweet kiss- her lips are warm against Edelgard’s sorbet chilled ones, and she leans into it. When she turns back to her bowl, Byleth’s arm that’s around her shoulder has snaked around to the front, pulling her ever closer, so that she had her head leaned against Byleth’s chest.

But instead of being greeted with the bowl of peach sorbet in her hands, Byleth has an open ring box in her own hand, blocking the sorbet from view.

Edelgard looks at the ring in shock, then back up at Byleth, then back down at the ring. “By?”

“El.” Byleth smiles at her and it feels like a brilliant sunbeam has fallen across her skin. “I know we’ve discussed this before. But when the kids were asking about you today and I said the words ‘my wife’ out loud for real, it just sounded right, that this is the way things should be- this is what I want. And I know that’s kind of silly that saying the words ‘my wife’ had such an effect but I would like nothing more than to have the honour of calling you my wife.” 

Edelgard shrieks, and leaps up from her seat. “I can’t believe you, By! I told you it was a surprise for _later_! Don’t you dare move!” 

She practically tosses the bowl of peach sorbet onto the coffee table in her haste to get to the other side of the room. In a frenzy now, she grabs her painting from the easel, it’s mostly dry now. Edelgard dashes around the apartment like a madman, painting behind her back. She disappears into the office for a brief second, rifling in her drawer of painting equipment. Then she’s back, leaping over the back of the couch and into Byleth’s lap. In the dim moonlight, she can see Byleth’s worried expression, anxiety warring with the faint traces of hope.

“El? I understand if you need more time to think about it, there’s absolutely no pressure right now. We’re currently living in crazy times, and maybe I’m also going a little bit stir crazy here. And this isn’t as romantic as I would have planned it.” Byleth rambles on, looking at her with those wide eyes and Edelgard knows immediately that Byleth’s anxiety is spiking.

Edelgard kisses her, gently. 

She whips the painting out from behind her back. And in the darkness, the paints change, making it really look like two people are curled together on a hill, watching the glowing stars in the night sky. ‘Will you marry me?’ is painted across the canvas in a now visible glowing paint. A small glowing painting of a ring sits under those words. Edelgard pretends to pluck the ring off of the painting, and with a slight flourish and a little bit of sleight-of-hand, makes the real ring appear in her hand.

“Oh. _Oh._ ” It’s Byleth’s turn to look down at the ring, then Edelgard, then the painting, then the ring again.

“I can’t believe you beat me to proposing.” Edelgard laughs, burying her face against Byleth’s neck.

“Does this mean-”

“Yes. Yes it does, Byleth Eisner. I will happily be your wife.”

“I think Byleth von Hresvelg has a nice _ring_ to it.” 

“Was that a pun?”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Did Byleth hide the engagement ring behind the other row of pickled daikon in the fridge? You betcha.
> 
> Also for some reason I really liked Edelgard calling Byleth 'By' as Byleth calls her 'El' so that's literally the only way the two of them refer to each other.


End file.
